Sunday Surf for 9-19
Welcome to this week’s Sunday Surf! I hope that you find something fun to read, and if you’re so inclined, take this as your invitation to participate next week!
Enjoy:
Rural Socialite’s Welcome to my Home – A Photo Tour is fun. I can;t afford to redecorate my house and this might serve as a good placeholder while I dream of new paint and knobs…
Kitchen Witch’s Zombie Contingency Plan is awesome… I’m thinking I might need a kit ‘just in case’. This may lead to a van full of survival kids, what with our field trip box already back there, lol. Vampires, aliens … you just need to be prepared!
I’m Unschooled. Yes I can Write’s Month of Cool People and Places is a great post. If you don’t click any other link in today’s surf, click this one and watch the “Not Back to School Camp” video. What an amazing, inspiring place!
Secular Nature Homeschool’s Organizers & Joiners post has a great list of Top Ten Rules for Being Part of a Homeschool Group that I thought was both funny and true (not that MY group moms need to worry about that, lol).
Teri at Laughing, Lace and Legos posted about their geography lesson and maps that they made. I am super-inspired by this and as we’re about to begin a study of the United States, I thought we might be able to draw from her awesome craftiness in our study of the land we live in.
New Dress A Day was recommended on SecularHomeschooling.com as a ‘must follow’ blog, and yes, I admit, I am hooked. She’s SEW CRAFTY! (Bad puns are cool now; didn’t you get that memo??)
For more Sunday Surfing, visit Authentic Parenting, Enjoy Birth, Breastfeeding Moms Unite, A Domesticated Woman’s Adventures, Maman A Droit,Hobo Mama and Baby Dust Diaries.
Warmly,
~h
Halfway There
You ever have one of those days where you feel like on the one hand, you began so long ago and you’re just now reaching the halfway point; and on the other hand, it’s going by so fast that you’re amazed that you’re already halfway through? Well, that’s how I feel about this mod.
For one thing, we’re doing a short mod; only 5 weeks instead of 6, and tomorrow begins what would be week 4. It doesn’t seem like we’ve done much by way of actual school work, but when I look in our records, we really have. We’ve had several long days, and several short ones, plus 2 out-of-town trips – and still managed to complete all of the lessons I marked off up till now. I’m kinda impressed that we’ve stayed mostly on track. We have slowed down a bit – taking a couple of weeks for LittleBoyBlue’s much longer spelling lists and multiplication is harder for PeaGreen – I love having the flexibility to really go at their pace rather than rushing through just to get done with a book.
I suppose that some will read this and scratch their head considering that most schools will start a new school year in a few weeks, but since we school all year long (we just take more breaks at regularly scheduled intervals than other schools), we’re only halfway through our school year. Since my boys do associate with some of the kids that they were in school with, I did go ahead and close out their previous grade and move them into the next one (not that it matters to me) so they don’t ‘feel’ different from their peers. That did cause some confusion for LittleBoyBlue the other day when he was complaining to Dad that Mom just switched him to 3rd grade without a party or anything… because we were so going to have a party?? o_O
They have expressed vehement opposition to going back to school, but only if I bring up going back. Apparently I missed the memo that said it was fine for them to say they wanted to go back, but definitely not okay for Mom to suggest it. I’m not sure if I find that amusing or annoying.
I like how the farther and deeper into homeschooling we get, the more it’s becoming ‘how we live’ instead of ‘something that we do’. It’s exhausting at times, always being ‘on’ to find the educational value of an activity, but I think it’s worth it. Though the boys do resist sitting still to do a lesson at times, they’re all about sitting still to watch a video about spiders or bees or whatever it is that they want to learn more about.
This week includes 3 playdates of sorts – one with a homeschooling friend I’ve recently re-connected with and her kiddos, another with a local mom’s group and our homeschool group’s park day is Friday. We’ll hit the library at some point, and I am newly resolved (again) to start the Couch to 5K program and/or 30 Day Shred DVD. Or at least do something exercise-ish every day. We’ll see how that goes.
Warmly,
~h
A Couple of Updates…
It occurs to me that over the past few months, I’ve made mention of things that I never followed up on. One such item was the ‘bring your bags’ reminder sticker from Conserving Now. I got mine in; this is what it looks like:
Another was the free water testing kit:
(we have soft water - the test strip was green, but the kids were playing with it before I snagged a picture and the pad got torn. Underneath it was the odd pink color – wonder what makes that happen?) I was unimpressed with this little kit – I was expecting something more… grand, I suppose. Something to test lead levels or toxins or something more impressive than ‘is your water too hard?’. Oh, well – the kit was free and the kids had fun ‘testing’ it so it was worth it in the end I suppose.
Something else I made mention of frequently in the past was the Creativity Boot Camp. {sigh} I am such a quitter. I didn’t finish it. I got through the weekend on it and just… lost interest. I think it was my medium. I think my expectation was (unconsciously) that the workshop was going to improve my skills in whatever medium I chose. That was unrealistic and I see in retrospect that the point of the workshop was to inspire, not necessarily hone skills one does not inherently possess. I chose drawing (pencil/charcoal) as my medium, and the bottom line is that I really suck at drawing. I am disappointed with myself for not finishing it, but that’s not going to motivate me to finish the workshop in that medium (if I’m being honest, which I am). I DO want to try again with a different medium – photography or writing, maybe.
I actually went today to a new writing group’s discussion meeting this afternoon, which is probably the first thing all summer that I’ve done exclusively for ME that required appropriating childcare. I am not really sure what I was expecting, but it was nice to talk with other people who are interested in writing as more than strictly a hobby. I started my first novel (an epic historical romance) when I was 16. I still have the manuscript. It’s gone from hand-written to digitalized – even bought software once upon a time to help me keep the massive family trees straight. I have since created many, many outlines and story concepts, but have completed very few of them. I have fantasies about being interviewed and talking about how it took ’20 years to write this book’, lol. Silly, I know – but fun to think about anyway.
School was supposed to start this week – M5, week 1. We’re… still on vacation, I think. We’ve been goinggoinggoing all summer long and it is really taking a toll on me. Trying to get desk-work and workbooks in for the last couple of weeks has been challenging, so we’re dropping all that for now with plans to pick it back up in a couple of weeks. This week though, I think we’re just vegging a little more. I may have to adjust my school year calendar for next year to allow a bit more of a mid-year break to keep from burning out. Maybe 2 weeks between mods during the summer? We shall see.
Somehow, it still surprises me that I have to make adjustments. I don’t know why that it, but it always manages to catch me by surprise. Part of it is fear of failure, I think. When things don’t work out how I envisioned them, I automatically file it under ‘fail’. I’m working on creating a new filing system – one that doesn’t affect me so negatively. I know I’ve talked about my youngest as being this deep well of negativity, and I know where he gets it from so I can’t really complain about it. I’m working on improving my own outlook so I can help my kiddo. Being a mom is a complex and often humbling job and it seems that they forget to include that in most manuals. Recognizing your own faults staring back at you from the innocent face of your child… that’s not an easy mirror to look into.
Enough waxing on the joys of motherhood, eh?
If you haven’t checked out Postcrossing, then this is yet another PSA from me to do so immediately! We’ve gotten cards from all over – Taiwan, Brazil and several US states, and have sent cards to all over as well. It’s so much fun getting mail! REAL mail – not bills or advertising for stuff you didn’t ask for that you don’t need and wouldn’t want.
So that’s a quick update on what’s been happening at mi casa. How ’bout you? Anything interesting popping up on your radar?
Warmly,
~h
The Return of Imagination
Television robs children of imagination and creative thinking. That’s not just a theory, I know this. I have seen it in action. That doesn’t mean that I am going to ban or that I support an all-out ban (or war) on TV. But that also doesn’t mean that I am blind to the differences in my children based on less or more TV-viewing.
When the kids were little, we severely limited their television time. As LittleBoyBlue hit a year or so, he watched A Bug’s Life and fell in lurve. He had to watch it at least once a day. And in the morning. And at nap time. And in the afternoon. And at bedtime. So, we started letting him. Bad move? Maybe. But he didn’t ‘sit in front of the TV and stare at it’ watch it, it was just on in the background while he went about his daily routine. I was sort of fine with that. Then I was pregnant and sicksicksick and so I let him watch more and more, interacted with him less and less (because in all honesty all I wanted to do was sleep) and finally PeaGreen was born. For a long time, we didn’t watch much TV. I am not a homebody by nature (or wasn’t until recently) and so we were gone every day – park, bookstore, library, visiting – anything we could do that was not at home.
As they grew though, we got more and more lax about allowing them to chill in front of the boob-tube when we were home, especially during the Dec-early March when the weather here is cold and wet and gray all the time. Then summertime would hit and I would banish TV, kick the kids outside and open up the house to let the sun in.
When I started paying attention, I noticed a correlation between their behavior and in the tones of their interaction with each other and the amount of TV they were watching. The more TV they watched, the whinier and crabbier they were. I noticed more fights, more picking on each other. When they weren’t allowed to waste the day away in front of the TV, I watched I creativity bloom. They worked together, were more of a team than adversaries. They collaborated on projects – even if the entire project was completely invisible. Heck, they had projects that were invisible!
My theory? Television robs children of the ability to think outside the box – literally. If they spent a lot of time watching TV, then even when they were away from the TV, their mind was on what was on TV. Constantly, I was fielding the question, “Mom, can we watch TV?”. If it wasn’t that, exactly, then it was some variation of it, and always related to getting done with whatever we were doing so that they could get back to watching TV. Even if they were playing without watching TV, their topic was usually related to a show or movie. If I sent them outside, they couldn’t think of anything to do. There was a lot of sitting on the porch, moping and ticking the minutes by until they could get back in front of the television, and if they missed a show? Pouting, tears, attitude… ugh.
When we banished TV (or severely limited it), then after maybe a week of de-tox, they miraculously were able to think of things to do outside or in their room that had nothing to do with television shows. They wake up and PLAY, and everything doesn’t revolve around what’s coming on next. They get engaged in physical activities that require planning and forethought and teamwork, and even if they miss out on a show, it’s not that big of a deal because they were having fun. I like that.
I am seeing this lovely shift into creativity again. I have been a lazy mama, I can admit that. During school (“school” school, not our new and improved homeschool) it took all my energy to get through homework when we got home from school. By the time we were done with that, I needed to get dinner on, make sure laundry was done for the next day, take care of whatever work I still needed to finish for the day – and we all needed to relax. Sometimes, that was accomplished in a “whole family” kind of way, but more often, it was either “Daddy Time” (which usually means video games) or we would all watch a show. Granted, it wasn’t always mind-numbing ‘crap TV’ – we’re big fans of Discovery Channel, Science Channel, NGC, and the History Channel, so we often watch intellectually stimulating programs by choice.
But weekends, weekends were a problem. My husband and I are night owls by nature, so if we don’t have to get up early in the morning, we’re prone to stay up super late and sleep in the next morning. Once the boys got old enough to let mom & dad sleep in, they’d get up and turn on the TV, grab some grub and their morning was set… which translated into a few hours of TV all in one stretch.
Since we started homeschooling, it really hit just how much TV they’d been watching. I was talking to another homeschooling mom in the park last week and she was talking about how her kids argued way more when they were in public school. It kinda hit me then how much my boys were arguing and made me remember how much nicer it was when we had more strict TV time limits in our house.
Last week was kind of our de-tox week. There was a lot of grumping about not being allowed to watch TV, and a lot of me snapping and making unreasonable threats, “If you ask me again, you may never watch TV again!” – that kind of thing.
But this week, it’s almost magical, how the shift from more TV to less TV just gives them back their imagination. They’ve been mining in our yard. It looks more like “digging a knee-deep kid-sized hole”, but they’re calling it mining and I’m encouraging it. They’ve discovered layers in the soil – clay, fine sand, fertile topsoil. They’ve found roots from a tree halfway across our yard. They’ve found grubs and earthworms, made squishy mud pies (did I mention that they’ve found that adding water to the hole makes it easier to dig?) – there’s a part of me that knows that this is unschooling at work, and I am reveling in it. But they still had a spelling test and a math test this morning. The part that I love is that yesterday, they didn’t get to go dig; we had a playdate and library day which they enjoyed as much but in a different way. This morning, that’s all they have asked to do – to go dig. So I cut short lessons – only math, spelling, reading, art appreciation (Raphael’s “St. George and the Dragon” – it’s a freakin’ dragon!) and the geography that they asked to do (Paddle to the Sea), which led to online explorations and discussions about canals and shipping lane locks. That, in addition to their digging discoveries, covers science.
This is the part I am loving about homeschooling. Yes, we still have lessons we need to work through, but there is an opportunity to learn that is self-directed. They can experiment and make discoveries for themselves, on a subject that they are motivated to explore and we can skip the pre-packaged lesson on science in favor of what they want to learn about. We have yet to crack open the science textbook (not that Charlotte Mason advocates textbooks, but I have several and figure we may as well get some use from them, when it suits us) and yet they’re learning just fine.
Warmly,
~h
We begin Week 2
…with a Mommy that doesn’t feel all that great and kids who are somewhat less cooperative than they were last week. Dare I say that the “new” is wearing off of the idea of learning at home?
There is still the dilemma of wanting to unschool and not wanting to unschool. I LOVE the concept – but practically speaking, I am not sure that.. well, in all honestly, I think I might be too lazy to be an unschooling mom. Maybe unschooling is something that you have to “come” to after a while – that seems to be the case in some families from what I have read. I do know that right now, the time it is taking me to read things myself, make sure that we’re hitting all our bases, and still work in fun things to do – it’s EXHAUSTING. And from what I have read, unschooling requires at least that much effort, maybe more if you’re doing it “right”.
The other part to the unschooling equation is faith – faith in the process of natural learning, faith that my children WILL in fact be motivated to learn the things they need to learn before they get into college – or maybe that’s part of the problem? I see my children as COLLEGE BOUND. That’s non-negotiable. Not necessarily a 4 year degree college, but at least some sort of secondary education will be strongly encouraged for our kids. This is due, in part ot the fact that neither my husband nor I have a college education, and though we’re happy, we can both see where at least some secondary education would have helped our family. So, the result is that we want every door that can be open to our children to be there for them. That means that on some level, our kids need to be prepared to function in that environment if and when they step through that door. It also means that they’ll need to have the knowledge and skills at hand to access when it comes time for things like SAT testing. I know that theoretically, if we unschool completely and our kids decide to go to college, that THEN will be the motivation to learn the skills needed to score well on the test, however, I also think that there are some things that come easier if you learn them when you’re young (and “should” have learned them, according to traditional schooling) such as multiplication tables and telling time on a face-clock. Sure, you CAN learn it later on, but there’s always a part of you that has to think about it before you get it, whereas learning by rote and repetition instills it into your psyche and you pretty much have it to call on when you need it. That’s a gross oversimplification, I realize, but the point is valid, I think.
This leads to my concerns with unschooling and why more structured “homeschooling” methods appeal to me more. Maybe I have the wrong impression or attitude about it – I am sure that some unschooling pro will come across this at some point and think, “Oh, you poor dear…”, and I hope that’s the case. I am willing to learn, and like I said, maybe unschooling is something that you have to “come” to. I know that I have learned a LOT in the last week, so if this is any indication of the trend, then I have a great big future filled with discovery in front of me.
Warmly,
~h
